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South Africa 26 Ireland 17: Tourists leave effort too late

THEY won’t quite be shouting it from the mountaintops around Cape Town, but there is most definitely something stirring in the state of South African rugby.

Jake White’s youthful Springboks completed their series win over Ireland yesterday, not exactly pulverising them in the same manner as last weekend in Bloemfontein, but holding on deservedly amid a final-quarter rally by Ireland, who had awoken from their first-half slumber. Too little, too late as it turned out. They’ll regret this for a long time.

Ireland turned around 20-10 behind and it was in that first half that much of the damage was done. In fairness to them, Ireland were not helped by the pre-match loss of Geordan Murphy, the full-back going down with a chest infection.

Ireland also lost Girvan Dempsey with a nasty facial injury in the 21st minute, but his replacement, Gavin Duffy, had an assured afternoon on his first